In an analyzing device, represented by a liquid chromatograph (LC) or gas chromatograph (GC), an analysis for a sample is conducted according to preset analysis conditions, and a qualitative and/or quantitative determination (or similar analysis) is performed by processing the data according to preset data-analyzing and processing conditions. For example, in the case of the liquid chromatograph, the analysis conditions include the flow velocity of the mobile phase, gradient conditions, and column temperature, while the data-analyzing and processing conditions include the retention time, peak-waveform-processing parameters, and calibration curves. In the following descriptions, the “analysis conditions” should basically be regarded as inclusive of the data-analyzing and processing conditions.
In recent years, with the improvements in the performance and functions of analyzing devices, the analysis conditions have been increasingly complex, with a large number of items to be set by users in relation to those conditions. An appropriate setting of the analysis conditions is essential to obtain correct results of the measurement and analysis. To this end, an administrator who is familiar with the analyzing task and has a broad amount of expertise is required to determine those conditions. However, in research institutes or contracted analysis businesses which need to perform measurements and analyses for an enormous number of samples, it is often the case that an operator with no expertise pertaining to the analyses and related tasks takes charge of the actual analyzing task. In order for such an operator to even efficiently perform the analyzing task with no mistakes, analyzing devices offered in recent years have been provided with packages of analysis conditions for performing a sequence of measurement and data-analyzing processes, requiring analysis operators to merely select one package to be used in the analysis.
For example, in Patent Literature 1 and other documents, a set of analysis conditions packaged in the previously described manner is called the “analysis method”, while a data file for computers in which those conditions are described is called the “analysis method file”.
In general, optimum analysis conditions differ from compound to compound (although the same set of analyzing conditions can in some cases yield almost equally accurate results for a plurality of compounds). Accordingly, in the contracted analysis businesses or similar institutions mentioned earlier, the administrator normally prepares appropriate analysis methods beforehand for various compounds to be analyzed, and stores the analysis method files in a storage device in a computer (see Non Patent Literature 1 or other documents). When initiating an automatic analysis for a number of specimens, the operator referring to an instruction (or similar document) selects one or more analysis methods from the registered analysis methods and issues a command for initiating the analysis.
Such an analyzing technique using a conventional analyzing device has the following problem.
For example, consider the case where the specimens are subjects' samples of blood or urine, and the quantity of a known kind of drug or metabolite contained in each specimen needs to be determined. In such a test, it is often the case that, although the kinds of target compounds are limited, the kind of compound whose quantity needs to be determined changes from specimen to specimen. According to the previously described conventional technique, an analysis using the initially selected analysis method is performed for each specimen, i.e. for all specimens exhaustively. This means that some specimen is subjected to an analysis which uses an analysis method prepared for a compound that is not the target of the quantitative determination for that specimen. Such an analysis is practically useless and merely wastes the specimen. It is also a waste of time used for the analysis as well as a waste of mobile phase and carrier gas in the case of the LC or GC.
Furthermore, according to the previously described conventional technique, when a plurality of compounds whose quantities need to be determined are contained in one specimen, it is basically necessary to repeat a plurality of times the analysis for the same specimen using different analysis methods, so that the analysis requires a considerable amount of time. In the case of an LC-MS or GC-MS using a tandem quadrupole mass spectrometer as the detector, if the retention times of the plurality of compounds contained in one specimen are close to each other, it is possible to repeat the cycle of sequentially executing MRM (multiple reaction monitoring) transitions (i.e. combinations of the mass-to-charge ratio of the precursor ion and that of the product ion) corresponding to the respective compounds within the same time range, create a chromatogram for each MRM transition (“extracted ion chromatogram”), and perform the quantitative determination. By this method, the quantities of a plurality of compounds contained in one specimen can be determined by a single analysis. However, since the detection process for the plurality of compounds needs be completed within the limited length of time during which the target compound is being eluted, the detection time per one compound becomes short, so that the sensitivity becomes low.
For example, in the case of the LC, this decrease in the detection sensitivity can be avoided by performing a gradient analysis so as to improve the separation characteristics of the column and thereby enable the detection of each compound within a specific time range where no other overlapping compound is present. However, this method also results in a longer period of time required for one analysis; in some cases, the gradient analysis requires almost the same amount of time as the normal analysis performed two times for the same specimen. Furthermore, an analysis method prepared for a gradient analysis is normally unusable for an analysis of a specimen containing other compounds; the analysis method is dedicated for a specimen containing a specific combination of compounds, and therefore, is unsuitable for an exhaustive analysis. Needless to say, the task of preparing the analysis method is extremely complex and time-consuming.